Upstream Ideas/ Republicans have a chance to regain relevance in the governance of the City of Chicago

We’re not waiting for Danny Noonan to make a putt at Bushwood Country Club. We’re waiting for bush league Illinois Republicans to stop puttering around and seize the moment.

Every single one of the 67 Republican superminority state legislators should sign on as a co-sponsor to the legislation filed by State Rep. LaShawn Ford, an African-American West Side Democrat, to recall Chicago’s feudal lords in general and its present mincing mayor in particular.

Retweeting #RecallRahm is not sufficient.

For the first time in at least three decades Republicans have a chance to regain relevance in the governance of the City of Chicago and simultaneously begin to reshuffle the political allegiances of minority families in the state.

Five years into Rahm’s rule and two of the core institutions in the city, the police and the schools, are disintegrating to say nothing of the underlying Enron-ian city finances undergirding the whole system.

For Rahm Republicans, this is the opportunity to do penance for their sin of supporting the Shetland scammer.

We have a recall mechanism for Illinois’ governor. Why shouldn’t we have one for Chicago’s mayor? More former governors are convicted felons, yes. But that doesn’t mean as many former mayors weren’t just as deserving.

So spare us the rationalizations and cop-out capitulations.

Who would come next? What if they’re worse?

I am happy to have that discussion on the occasion of Rahm’s head on a spike in front of City Hall.

What about the structural reforms needed in Chicago? Just replacing the mayor isn’t enough.

I refer you to my answer above.

A former radio colleague of mine Deborah Rowe enlightened me long ago as to the answer to the question, how can Republicans do a better job of attracting African-American families to their ranks?

Rowe told me, one of the things we need to see is Republicans standing up when they should stand up.

This is that moment.

Illinois Republicans have a choice. They can either stand up and speak with moral clarity against the injustices of the day or they can settle into the superminority for many generations to come.

But House Speaker Mike Madigan will never call the bill so what’s the point?

Maybe he will. Maybe he won’t.

Public pressure is a funny thing. It can force outcomes once thought unimaginable.

Regardless, Republicans who are content to predict what will happen rather than work for what they would like to see happen will be seen for the cowards they are.

As C.S. Lewis observed, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.”

If the Illinois Republicans Party is not a courageous party it cannot be a virtuous party and it will never again be a majority party.